This past week the South African Wildlife Management Association (SAWMA) held its annual conference in Windhoek. Hosted by the great folks at the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, this conference brought together wildlife researchers and conservationists from around the world with dozens of presentations on exciting research touching the future of Southern Africa’s wildlife.

Lion Rangers Research Director John Heydinger presented a forthcoming paper on the effects of moonlight on lion activity patterns, which is being authored in partnership with researchers from the Greater Etosha Carnivore Programme and his fellow researchers at the Beasley Lab at the University of Georgia. This paper works to streamline otherwise disparate approaches to measuring moonlight for its effects on lion activity patterns, using data from Etosha National Park. Watch this space for further updates.

Lion Rangers Program Coordinator Mathilde Brassine presented on the use of the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) by the Lion Rangers. This presentation garnered lots of interest among conservationists from other areas. The Lion Rangers have been pioneering in their use of SMART for monitoring lions and as a metric for assessing rangers’ performance in northwest Namibia. Brassine also recently authored a book chapter detailing the use of SMART by the Lion Rangers.

GCF and SAWMA are thanked for putting together a great conference which provided many opportunities to hear about the exciting research taking place across the region.